Our pal Richie Whitt has, over the past two days, detailed ways the Texas Rangers can replace second baseman Jurickson Profar and catcher Geovany Soto, who are both out for about three months.
So how will Whitt address the Rangers' plan to replace Yu Darvish? The answer is simple, because there is none.
The Rangers officially ruled out Darvish from his scheduled Opening Day start on Tuesday morning, meaning Monday's season opener is currently TBD vs. Cliff Lee, with TBD meaning either Martin Perez or Tanner Scheppers, neither of which in their wildest dreams would be the Rangers Opening Day starter for the 2014 season.
Yup, that's what we've come to.
Darvish is headed back to DFW to see back specialist — yes, back specialist — Dr. Drew Dossett, the same renowned surgeon who performed Matt Harrison's back surgery, because of what started as a stiff neck. Now, it's becoming clear there's something else going on with Darvish other than just sleeping wrong one night.
"I knew I wasn’t going to be ready for Opening Day, so I made this decision,” Darvish told The Dallas Morning News through an interpreter. “I didn’t want to burden the team so I made the decision now.”
“If it was a shoulder or an elbow, it would be really different,” Darvish added. “I don’t know what to feel. It is what it is.”
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The Rangers could place him on the disabled list backdated to March 21, meaning he would only miss the first six days of the season – if exams show no more issues.
So yeah, Rangers fans, it's OK to panic. Maybe hold off on jumping out your office window, but you can start panicking if you'd like.
